She's A Woman
by miekhead
Summary: Fourth in the 'She's...' series. Claudia is not quite herself on the mission with Pete to retrieve Bobby Fischer's marbles. Explanation of Leena's absence from the episode. Featuring fatherly!Artie. Spoilers for 4.4.


**A/N:** Welcome! So I'm slowly beginning to catch up with the episodes. This is the fourth fic in the 'She's…' series. I was always curious as to why Leena was not only nowhere to be seen, but Artie was at the B&B when he had no reason to be… So I filled in the blanks. Features a very fatherly Artie.

oxoxoxoxo

When you worked for the Warehouse, you were bound to have off days. What Claudia couldn't figure out was why she was having a bad week. The concern she felt about her own wellbeing caused her to be distracted. Or at least it meant that she was not quite herself. For her own sake, Claudia had decided to be strictly business on this mission so they could snag and bag reasonably quickly. Her thoughts drifted to Leena again as Hugo waffled on and on about the marbles, and she shook her head to clear herself of them. _Leena. At home. Waiting._ She rolled her eyes at the taunting voice and zoned in on the conversation again, crossing her legs and sitting up straight. This was going to take more than a day, she just knew it.

By 8pm, Artie realized his own distracted thoughts had caused him to lose track of time, and he gathered his things, locked up, and left the Warehouse. When he pulled up to the B&B, he let out a sigh at the darkness of both the evening and the inn itself, holding down a shiver at the bleak old house that just seemed so… dead. He grabbed his bag and used his key to enter, slipping off his rain soaked coat and his shoes before trudging up the stairs. When he knocked on Leena's bedroom door and heard no sound, he slowly turned the handle and slipped in. His lips thinned in adoration when he noticed the large mass of curly hair sticking out from the top of the duvet. It was like somebody had stuck a giant poodle in the bed and wrapped her up in a 12 tog duvet. Of course, when he sat down at the edge of the mattress, only then did he see Leena's nose poking out through the springy locks. He frowned, looking around the room. No signs of her having eaten or drunken anything. Artie sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. His eyes widened slightly, impressed at the softness of the duvet. But that was beside the point. Rubbing her arm, he called out to her gently. "Leena?"

"Uhh…"

Smiling, he rolled his eyes. Since Pete and Myka had joined the team all those years ago, Artie had noticed a change in Leena's behavior. It wasn't that she was regressing to a younger age, more that she had seemed just that little bit more wide eyed and bushy tailed than she had been the previous years. When Claudia joined the team, thanks to Leena's incessant nagging, the innkeeper had at times turned into a pouty teenager who stomped around the inn after a mere disagreement. Never before had Artie more felt like a father of five than he had right now. "Leena? Time to wake up."

He patted her shoulder again and she groaned stuffily, turning and wriggling under the covers. "Leena." He pulled out the prescription that Vanessa had given him and read the instructions on the back. Finally, she let out a whine and pushed herself up the bed, rubbing and blinking open her eyes.

"Artie?" she croaked.

He nodded and smiled, handing over the right antibiotic dosage along with a glass of water. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I slept in a tank of water," she spluttered, holding in an almighty cough. No use. Quickly grabbing a tissue, she coughed into it and after her lungs seemed less irritated, flopped back against the pillows. Taking the pills and the water, she swallowed each quickly and sighed. "It's too quiet," she frowned. "Are the others on a mission?"

"Yeah," he nodded, getting up and fussing around the room, picking up tissues and popping them in the wastebasket. "Pete and Claudia are in Connecticut, Steve and Myka are in New Orleans."

"New Orleans?" Leena's eyebrow rose. "Jealous."

Artie pointed a glare at her but she merely huffed and wriggled around under the covers. "Hey, I'm just saying… I would love some crawfish chowder right about now."

At that he let out a grudging smile. "When was the last time you ate?"

"I have no idea." Leena shook her head. "This morning? Wait, is it still Tuesday?"

He nodded, chuckling. "Still Tuesday, only just. Let me go and fix you up some soup."

Leena rolled onto her side and let out another pitiful sigh. She hated being sick. It was a rarity and when she did get the flu, her body usually went all out, turning her into a sad and whiny weakling. "Hey Artie?" she called out just as he was about to leave the room. "Will you hand me my cell?"

Artie smiled and pottered in, lifting the phone from her dresser and handing it over. He knew what she was up to. He'd noticed the sudden change in Claudia and Leena's relationship after… He shook his head and frowned. Mrs. Frederic hadn't died. Not in this reality anyway. So when had it changed? He paused at the door, deep in thought. He wasn't the best at sensing these things. Claudia had had to practically spell it out for him about Myka and HG. And yet… He smiled fondly. After Jinks had been brought back, Claudia was parading around the Warehouse like some kind of big sister. She seemed older. She was a woman. He'd noticed the subtle winks delivered Leena's way. The hugs. The little touches here and there. And at first, he'd been completely and utterly horrified. That was until a visit from Mrs. Frederic put him back on his feet and once again he rather unwillingly accepted Claudia's fate and destiny. With that thought, he shivered slightly at the realization and rushed down to the kitchen to go and defrost a batch of soup.

Leena turned on her phone and blinked at the bombardment of text messages from Claudia as her cell network got accustomed to the phone's connection. She smiled at the concerned messages, stroking her screen with her thumb.

_Gone to CT. Will try and get back asap._

_Hugo is as insane as ever. Hope you're okay._

_Text me, tell me you're okay._

_I miss you._

Leena grinned widely, curling up her legs to get a little more comfortable before she typed in a reply. She must have dozed off yet again by the time Artie had come back, because she found herself being shaken awake.

She blinked and winced, pulling herself to a sitting position as she gratefully accepted the tray that was being placed on her thighs. Steaming hot chicken soup, orange juice, two slices of toast and some strawberries. She smiled at the man. "Thank you."

He nodded, but a frown remained on his face. "You okay?"

Leena looked down at herself, startled at the question. She sniffed and grabbed a tissue. "I'm sick… do I look okay?"

"No, I mean…" he grumbled lightly, "You've been sick twice now in two weeks. That's not you." His heart clenched as he thought back to the grey streak of Mrs. Frederic's hair. _Not her too, please not Leena too. _He swallowed thickly, holding her hand and she looked down in confusion at the unnecessary concern.

"Artie, it's the flu," she soothed. "My guess is I got sick two weeks ago and it lingered a little while before it got bad. I'll be fine." She wriggled her hand away and picked up a slice of bread to nibble on. "Artie," she scoffed and rolled her eyes, the old man's worried aura making her nearly wince. "I am fine, okay? Just a chest infection and a head cold. I'll be okay."

"Okay," he nodded with a false smile. "Okay." He patted her hand. "I need to get back to the Warehouse. You'll call me if you need me?"

"Of course," she smiled back, holding in a splutter.

He bent down to kiss the top of her head and tugged at the polka dot t-shirt she was wearing. "Cute PJs." He muttered.

"Gift from Claudia," she grinned dreamily and he couldn't stop the chuckle from emerging.

"Crazy kids and your need for animal prints." he grumbled halfheartedly, watching her look down at the cartoon cats dotting across her chest and he left the room with a smile.

In the kitchen, he cleaned up, placing the newly defrosted soup in the fridge just in case Leena got hungry again, and left, grabbing his coat and bag before opening the door… only to come face to face with the one man he really, really did not want to see.

Claudia looked down at the phone in her lap and hid a smile, reading the simple _I miss you too, and I'm fine. A little sleepy._

Rereading the message, she finally grinned and clapped her hands together after slipping the cellphone into her pocket. They had a mission to finish.

With both artifacts snagged, bagged and eventually tagged in spite of an unusually quiet Artie, Claudia joined the others back at the B&B and made a beeline towards the top of the stairs.

She pressed her ear to Leena's door and smiled at the gentle murmuring of voices coming from the innkeeper's television. Slipping into the room, she shook her head and laughed quietly. Leena was flat on her back, remote control resting in between her breasts, and her mouth was open, small snuffling snores coming from the back of her throat. Claudia sighed and picked up the remote, pointing blindly to the TV to turn it off. She pulled off her boots and moved Leena's food tray to the corner of the room. Slipping into the bed, she was careful not to wake the woman up. She rolled her over gently, smirking when Leena instinctively sought her out, wriggling against her chest with an arm wrapped around her middle.

"You're back," came the murmur.

"I am," Claudia smiled and pressed a kiss to Leena's warm forehead. She winced at the temperature and rubbed Leena's back. "Go back to sleep, not goin' anywhere."

"Okay," Leena nodded, her face nuzzling into Claudia's chest. "Talk to you later."

Claudia chuckled quietly, her eyebrow raised at the strange utterance. "Yeah." She grinned and kissed her again. "Night," she whispered and pulled the covers over them, flicking on the TV once more to find something more interesting than Poirot reruns. She'd tell Leena about her panic attack later, but now… She cuddled Leena closer and felt the happy, fuzzy, bubbling feeling in her chest subside slightly. Now she was just happy to lie here and be content about being home.


End file.
